Tasmanian Devil (Looney Tunes)

The Tasmanian Devil, often referred to as Taz, is an animated cartoon character featured in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes series of cartoons. The character appeared in only five shorts before Warner Bros. Animation closed down in 1964, but marketing and television appearances later propelled the character to new popularity in the 1990s.

Creation and first appearance

Robert McKimson based the character on the real-life Tasmanian Devil. Owen and Pemberton suggest that the character of the Tasmanian Devil was inspired by Errol Flynn.^[1] The most noticeable resemblance between the Australian marsupial and McKimson's creation is their ravenous appetites and crazed behavior. Although the bipedal Tasmanian Devil's appearance does not resemble its marsupial inspiration, it contains multilayered references to other "devils": he has horn-shaped fur on his head (similar to the Devil's appearance) and whirls about like a dust devil (similar in appearance to a tornado) which sounds like several motors whirring in unison. Taz is constantly voracious. His efforts to find more food (animate or inanimate) are always a central plot device of his cartoons. His hydrophobia serves as an internal antagonist quite often.

In fact, this appetite serves as the impetus for McKimson's Devil May Hare (first released on June 19, 1954). In the short, Taz stalks Bugs Bunny, but due to his dim wits and inability to frame complete sentences, he serves as little more than a nuisance. Bugs eventually gets rid of him in the most logical way possible: matching him up with an equally insatiable female Tasmanian Devil. The character's speech, peppered with growls, screeches, and raspberries, is provided by Mel Blanc. Only occasionally would Taz actually speak, usually to utter some incongruous punchline, (e.g. "What for you bury me in the cold, cold ground?") and yet the character is capable of writing and reading. A running gag is that when Bugs Bunny hears of the approach of "Taz" and looks him up in a encyclopedia and starts reading off a list of animals that "Taz" eats—Bugs finds "rabbits" not listed—until "Taz" either points out that "rabbits" are listed-or writes Rabbits on the list!

After the short entered theaters, producer Eddie Selzer, head of the Warner Bros. animation studio, ordered McKimson to shelve the character, feeling it was too violent for children and parents disliked this.^[2] After a time with no new Taz shorts, studio head Jack Warner asked what had happened to the character. Warner saved Taz's career when he told Selzer that he had received "boxes and boxes" of letters from people who liked the character and wanted to see more of him.

Later shorts

McKimson would go on to direct four more Tasmanian Devil cartoons, beginning with Bedeviled Rabbit (released on April 13, 1957). The she-devil returns in this cartoon, now as Mrs. Tasmanian Devil, but Taz's attraction for the female of his species is again exploited by Bugs when he uses a sexy female-devil costume to deliver some explosives to him. McKimson would also pair the Devil with Daffy Duck in Ducking the Devil (August 17, 1957) before pitting him once again against Bugs in Bill of Hare (June 9, 1962) and Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare (March 28, 1964). His final appearance done by the classic Warner Brothers directors, writers, and voice actors was in Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales appearing in The Fright Before Christmas segment and at the very end eating the sleigh full of presents.

From 1991-1993, Taz appeared in a self-titled television show called Taz-mania.

A Subway commercial advertising the year 2000 with party subs featured the Looney Tunes characters. When they were about to eat, Taz ended up eating the whole thing; Daffy is shown to have hidden a piece and Taz snatches it from him. The toys also featured Looney Tunes character keychains.

Baby Taz from Baby Looney Tunes.

On September 7, 2002, an infant version of Taz appeared as one of the regulars of the Baby Looney Tunes series. The infant version of him was voiced by Ian James Corlett. Most recently, he has had guest spots in Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) (where he was voiced by the main actor in the movie, Brendan Fraser) as part of the ACME team and two episodes of Duck Dodgers. In addition, the Histeria! portrayal of Attila the Hun is directly based on Taz.

The character of Slam Tasmanian on Loonatics Unleashed, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, is portrayed as a descendent of Taz. His surname is unique among Warner Bros. Tasmanian Devil characters, who generally adopt the "Devil" part of Taz's name.

A brief clip from a Taz cartoon appeared prior to the opening credits of the movie Twister. The clip was also seen on the VHS release of the movie, but it was cut out when the DVD was released.

Taz was an antagonist in the video game Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage, referenced in the game Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time, and was introduced as Bugs' partner in the latter game's sequel, Bugs Bunny & Taz: Time Busters. Taz made a cameo in the credits of Sheep, Dog, 'n' Wolf with his own 3D model. He appeared as the final boss in the game Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 4. Taz is the main character of the video game Taz: Wanted.

Taz also made a brief cameo appearance in an overhead shot during the ending scene of Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

He made a couple of appearances in Duck Dodgers as an enemy of Dodgers most notably in the episode "Deathmatch Duck".

Taz also had his own chocolate bar in the UK; it was a caramel version of the Cadbury's 10p Freddo Frog bar.

In the 2004 film Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, when Scooby drinks a chemical from Dr. Jonathan Jacobo's lab, he briefly turns into Tasmanian Devil. He was credited as himself in the end credits.

Relationship with the Tasmanian Government

In 1997, a newspaper report noted that Warner Brothers had "trademarked the character and registered the name Tasmanian Devil", and that this trademark "was policed", including an eight year legal case to allow a Tasmanian company to call a fishing lure the Tasmanian Devil. Debate followed, and a delegation from the Tasmanian government met with Warner Bros.^[3] Ray Groom, the Tourism Minister, later announced that a "verbal agreement" had been reached. An annual fee would be paid to Warner Bros. in return for the Government of Tasmania being able to use the image of Taz for "marketing purposes". This agreement later disappeared.^[4]

After much lobbying from the Tasmanian state government in Australia, Warner Bros. decided to assist the fight against extinction of the Tasmanian Devil due to devil facial tumour disease. Tasmanian Environment Minister Judy Jackson, prior to the company's support, heavily criticised Warner Bros., stating that the company had made millions of dollars from the character, but did not put up any money when other companies had.

The deal with Warner Bros. allows the Tasmanian Government to manufacture and sell up to 5000 special edition Taz plush toys with all profit going towards funding scientific research into the Devil Facial Tumour Disease.^[5][6] The deal also aims to increase public attention towards the threatening disease.

The Tasmanian Government and Warner Bros. have previously disputed the government's right to use the character as a tourism promotion, which Warner Bros. offered if they paid for it. The government refused this offer.

References

• Adamson, Joe (1990). 50 Years and Only One Grey Hare. New York: Henry Holt & Co. 
• Schneider, Steve. That's All Folks!: The Art of Warner Bros. Animation. New York: Henry Holt & Co. 

Notes

External links

• WarnerBros.com
• Toonopedia: Tasmanian Devil
• TazWorld